actual meditation has nothing to do with trance.actual meditation is the capacity to remove all objects from your field of awareness through the power of your concentration. only the object that you choose to engage with appears in the vacuity of your mental space.

trance is the opposite: there is no skill and control of your mind, and there is not the vacuousness of samadhi that comes from having managed to remove all coarse and subtle distractions

to answer the question: for most people its best for the first few months to keep the eyes closed, in order to suppress the excitement and need for constant stimulus which we ordinarily have all day long.as we progress through the 9 stages, once we reach stage 6 and 7 we are naturally prone to having the eyes half open, since the antidotes to excitation and dullness have been skilfully located and applied, and light hitting the open eye naturally functions to keep up alertness without any possibility of it leading to distraction, as we work toward stage 9

Agreed. However just like concentration it has its uses.Should have said, 'meditators' - my apologies.

actual meditation is the capacity to remove all objects from your field of awareness through the power of your concentration. only the object that you choose to engage with appears in the vacuity of your mental space.

Perhaps.Perhaps that is just focus/concentration, a prelude to a meditative 'state'.After all that 'power of your concentration' involves entering and leaving and therefore is just another subtle mind state.I find such concentration exercises also useful.